Thank you for the opinion expressed in the Point of View column. It is truly refreshing to see that type of opinion expressed in the media, given the recent avalanche of sexual misconduct allegations coming out of the woodwork to the point where one wonders who is going to be accused next.

Now, I am not saying that all these allegations, and that’s all they are until proven in a court of law, are false. There is no doubt that some of them are well founded, but the current rush to judgment by so many is very disheartening. What happened to a basic premise of our legal system: innocent until proven guilty?

Unfortunately, in cases such as these, as soon as the allegations are made, the damage is done, whether they are subsequently proven false or not, with lives and careers torn apart and never to be the same again. Watching the news broadcasts last night was Politics 101 at its finest indeed, and the prime minister even weighed in from Davos, Switzerland.

Maybe I’m being unduly cynical, but the saying “timing is everything” does come to mind.

Marie Calberry

Hartington

Cure for mental illnesses needed

Re: “Housing for homeless is key: Advocate,” Jan. 15.

The real “key” for homeless is the scientific brain research to find cures for human brain diseases, like schizophrenia and other chronic brain infections. (The disabilities brain diseases bring is a reason for so much poverty in our city and other places around the entire world.) We have clung to these never-proved (therefore unscientific) ideas for decades. It is time to move ahead, to using facts that recent scientific research has revealed. Brain diseases in humans are biological in nature. Microbes like viruses, misfolded proteins, prions, for example, have baffled scientists and changed the way we look at the brain. We cannot continue to accept social studies recommendations — with no proof of its value for these brain diseases. The price in humanity plus the expense of caring for citizens, who live with incurable brain diseases, now demand we massively research for the cures waiting to be found.

We owe this to all citizens to support, advocate, demand we do more than provide housing but demand the essential scientific brain research where cures will be found.